Emilio

I couldn't run around wearing my goggles without getting strange looks from people, so after buying a pair at the store, I worked on a pair of VR glasses. If people can make them detect information about others, I could tweak them to detect demons.

I worked on them while manipulating the system to scan for demons. Then, I tried them out on the others. When I stared at them in awe, they gave me strange looks.

"Why are you looking at us like that?" Nixon asked.

I waved my hand in front of me. "I can see a golden light from you. It's so bizarre."

The others exchanged curious glances.

"Let me see," Diego said, taking the glasses from me and putting them on. He looked at everyone and stopped at Nash. "Whoa. That's freaky." He removed the glasses and handed them to me.

"What is?" Nash asked.

"I saw energy coursing around you, unlike the others. It's like seeing a live wire in person."

"Let me see," Nixon said, taking my glasses. "Damn, he's right, Nash. You have all this electricity flowing through and around you. It's like you're a walking electrical current." He removed the glasses and passed them to Nathan.

Everyone passed the glasses around to witness what we had with Nash.

******
Preston

While the others viewed Nash as a science experiment, I contemplated Emilio's question: Why did Nash exude immense energy if we had a golden light surrounding us?

I grabbed my coat and grabbed the door handle.

"Where are you going?" Nathan asked me.

I looked at everyone before leaving. "I'm getting some answers from Castiel. It's time for him to cough up information instead of spouting riddles." With that, I left and headed to my advisor's office.

When I entered Castiel's office, he was standing at a bookcase with his back to me.

"I was expecting you." Castiel glanced over his shoulder at me before returning a book to its place and turning to me.

I looked at Castiel and knitted my brows. "There's more than one demon, isn't there?"

His lips curved slightly. "I was wondering when you would figure it out."

I crept toward him. "How many demons are there?"

"Now, that's a question to behold all the ages." He rested his finger against his lips before lowering it and clasping his hands before him. "You should know the answer to your questions from your training."

"I became a minister because it was a calling."

"And who called you to the teachings of God?"

A chill ran down my back.

Castiel walked toward his desk, sat in his desk chair, and gestured to an empty seat. I walked over and dropped down in the chair.

"Nixon, God chooses specific people to help him. Most people question his existence because they require proof. If you recall your past life, you had lost faith. You met a man at your lowest point to help you find your way."

"The minister in the rehab center."

Castiel smiled and nodded. "God places people directly in our path to help us. He removes the ones that become obstacles. It doesn't matter who we encounter during our journey. It matters who helps us reach our destination."

"Why does Nash have this insane energy inside him while we don't?"

"Because He chose Nashville. To receive a great reward, one must make the greatest sacrifice."

I furrowed my brows. "I don't like the direction of this conversation."

"God is faithfully yours, Nixon. Have faith in God. He will see you and others through your darkest times."

"What do you mean darkest times?"

"You will discover what it means when it happens. Have faith."

I didn't like the direction of this conversation. It left me with more questions than answers.

******
Misty

I had to admit that seeing Nash in a whole new light was interesting. No pun intended.

Emilio wanted to try out his new glasses and enlisted Diego to help him. They left the house and headed to the campus. Nathan and Noah went to track Eden's psycho ex. The others scattered, leaving Nash and me alone.

Nash plopped down on the couch and rubbed his forehead.

"Headache?" I asked, joining him on the couch.

Nash dropped his hand and looked at me. "No, more like irritation."

"Did you think our return would be easy?"

"No, I was hoping for a break. Mags, we returned and lost the kids. Fuck." He threw his head back and rubbed his face before dropping his hands and looking at me. "I watched each kid leave us. It killed me when Lex died. It was like having my soul ripped apart five times." Tears dripped down his cheeks.

I cupped Nash's face and wiped his tears with my thumbs. "Nash, the kids got to see you again before they left. That has to count for something."

Nash pressed his forehead against mine and closed his eyes. "It does, Mags. It counts for everything."

While I got to see the kids grow older and expand their families, Nash had to miss it. It wasn't until he returned that he witnessed the full extent of their happiness. Wherever the kids were, I'm sure they were happy.

******
Lyric

The afterlife is supposed to be peaceful, not with my siblings and cousins. It doesn't help we're stuck in limbo.

"This is such bullshit," Lake huffed.

"And you wonder why He won't let us pass the pearly gates," Lark said.

Lake glared at Lark.

"How much longer do we have to stay here?" Luna asked.

"Who the hell knows?" Kain shrugged.

My cousins rolled their eyes while my sisters glared at Kain. Yep, we were lucky to get stuck with our cousins again. Thank you so much for moving on.

I walked away from my sisters and sat beside Lex. "You seem fine with our situation."

"Unlike our sisters, I can deal with our situation." Lex pointed at our sisters arguing with our cousins.

"Do you have any regrets about your life?"

Lex contemplated my question. "How can you regret a life with love?"

My lips curled upward. "You can't."

"Lyric, we weren't perfect, but Ma and Dad loved us anyway. They loved us unconditionally. They loved our kids and grandkids. They loved our spouses without hesitation. How can you regret that?"

"You can't."

"Exactly. Our parents weren't perfect, but they didn't need to be perfect. They only needed to love us."

I nodded in agreement.

"You did well with Matthew."

"You did good with your boys, too."

Our sisters finally stopped arguing with our idiot cousins and joined us.

"What are you two talking about?" Luna asked.

"Ma and Dad," I said.

"I miss them."

"We all miss them," Lark said.

"I wish they were here now." Lake sighed.

My lips curled up award slightly.

******
Valentino

Nix returned from his talk with Castiel and plopped in a chair, looking miserable.

"What?" I asked.

"Castiel confirmed my suspicions. We're dealing with several demons. It's why one keeps reappearing after we defeat one."

"Okay. We suspected that. What else?"

"God chose you to do his bidding."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"It means God picked you to defeat whatever is coming. With great rewards comes great sacrifices."

"What kind of bullshit is that?" Mags asked.

"You're asking me? How the hell should I know?" He shrugged. "Castiel even mentioned we would encounter dark times during this game we call life. We need to have faith that God will see us through it."

"That doesn't help us whatsoever," I said.

"It's like deciphering riddles with Castiel. He doesn't give you a straight answer. It's starting to piss me off."

"Unless Castiel is giving you the answer without saying it outright," Mags said.

"How so?"

"Didn't you hate it when people cherry-picked the Bible?"

"Hell, yeah, I hated it. People would run around spouting passages to prove a point they had none. They used it to disguise their asshole ways."

"Why don't you cherry-pick Castiel's conversation to figure out what he's not saying?" Mags arched her brow.

Nix pondered what Mags said before picking apart his conversation with Castiel. "God places people in your way to help you but removes them from your path. What if it isn't people but objects?" He cocked his head and looked at us until his eyes landed on Mags's locket.

We exchanged glances. Is it possible God was giving us an inanimate object to help us? Mags's locket detects when a demon is near and alerts us. Then her promise ring started gleaming against the light. I took her hand and studied the promise ring.

"A beacon of hope," I said.

"What?" Nix asked.

I held up Mags's hand to him and showed him the illuminated promise ring. "The locket and ring are beacons. They were given with love. What's more powerful than hate?"

"Love."

"What does God possess?"

"Hope and love."

"Castiel was right. God is helping us, but not like what we thought. We had to read between the lines to get the answer."

"It still doesn't explain the dark times ahead of us."

"Maybe it's a test for us. Isn't the teacher always silent during the test?" Mags asked.

Nix and I exchanged glances, realizing Mags was right. God is testing us right now and giving us the tools to aid us. Unfortunately, we would encounter our first test when two of us went missing.

If you read Country Roads and Aiden, you know what's coming. If you thought Aiden has a temper, you haven't seen anything yet because Nash's temper will erupt like a volcano. You will see firsthand what everyone was saying about Nash's temper. It will be a doozy.